218 ORIGIN OF CONSTRUCTIONS OF INFINITIVE IN ANGLO-SAXON. 
sporadically, and is probably due to the distance of the infinitive from the 
governing adjective: see Chapter XI, p. 158 above. 
The passive infinitive with adjectives is probably, like the passive infinitive 
in other uses, due to Latin influence, though this cannot be demonstrated in 
the solitary example found, in JElfric. 
For the infinitive with adjectives in the other Germanic languages, see 
Chapter XVI, section xi. 
XII. OTHER ADVERBIAL USES OF THE INFINITIVE. 
A. THE CAUSAL INFINITIVE . 1 
So few examples of the causal infinitive, whether uninflected or inflected, 
occur in Anglo-Saxon (only about a dozen in all) that a confident conclusion 
as to its origin is impossible. Still the fact that only three examples occur in 
the poetry {Gen. 2279 and 2733, after cearian; Chr. 1555, after bisorgiari), 
each of which is doubtful; that, of the three examples in Early West Saxon, 
two {Bede 478.32, 484.15, after gefeon) are in translation of Latin infinitives of 
cause; and that most of the remaining examples occur in iElfric or in Wulfstan, 
renders it probable that the construction in Anglo-Saxon was due in part to 
Latin influence. This seems the more probable to me in view of the fact that 
cause in Anglo-Saxon was from the beginning usually expressed by an oblique 
case of 3cet (with or without a preposition) plus a finite verb or plus a dependent 
clause in apposition to the oblique (adverbial) case of tScet. It is possible, how¬ 
ever, that the causal use in Anglo-Saxon may be in part merely an extension 
of the objective use of the infinitive. 
The causal infinitive is rare in the other Germanic languages: see Chapter 
XVI, section xii. 
B. THE INFINITIVE OF SPECIFICATION WITH VERBS . 2 
In this use the infinitive is always inflected. No example has been found 
in the poetry. In the two examples from Wserferth (88.18 and 180.26), each 
after a passive verb, and in the solitary example from Bede (82.22), the in¬ 
finitive corresponds in the Latin to a phrase made up of a preposition plus 
gerundive and noun. Only three other examples occur, in iElfric. All of the 
examples are doubtful except Wcerf. 180.26. It seems probable, therefore, that 
this use of the infinitive was first suggested by the Latin. 
In the other Germanic languages, likewise, this use is of foreign importation: 
see Chapter XVI, section xii. 
C. THE CONSECUTIVE INFINITIVE . 3 
The consecutive use of the infinitive, always inflected, with adjectives is 
probably a native extension of the infinitive of specification with adjectives: 
this consecutive use is occasionally found in the Anglo-Saxon poems; though 
more frequent in the translations from the Latin, yet in only two of these ex¬ 
amples {Wcerf. 63.19 and JElf. Kept.: Ex. 16.16, in each of which the Anglo- 
Saxon infinitive corresponds to a Latin phrase made up of ad + a gerund or a 
gerundive) does the Latin seem to have had any appreciable effect, for in the 
other examples the Latin equivalent is varied. 
1 See Chapter XII, p. 160. 2 See Chapter XII, p. 161. 3 See Chapter XII, p. 162. 
